This past week has been an interesting one as far as promos go. I received a number of efforts I was looking forward to covering, was let down by a number of them, and had two that made me wonder what went wrong with both my life, and this website. One of them we’ll get to later down the road, but the other happens to be a debut studio album from a band called Totally Fucking Gay, a three-piece electronic grind metalcore comedy act. Normally, this is the sort of thing I typically shy away from covering on the site, but given the press release explaining why the band went this route, and the respect I have for those intentions, I couldn’t help but give it a shot. But does it live up to the criteria (as quoted later in this review), or does it fail to convey that very message in every way possible?

Well, the band name and album title does reflect what this album is in pretty much every way possible. It literally does seem to go out of it’s way to reach pure hedonistic levels of sexual gratification. Every song can be broken down into all programmed drums, guitars performed by Doc Octocock and Joe Testiculo with a mild distortion, random blast beats thrown in at what seems like random times, and the various synth effects that appear to act more like a bridge or background filler. Even the vocals sound like they came from a modern day speak-and-spell, though apparently are performed by Kneepad Nikki. Picture the vocal approach of The Elite with Skip Skiffington or The B-52s crossed with Jaldaboath and bouts of pornogrind, and you’ll get the idea.

That said, for more of an electronica outing, the music itself isn’t too bad. “Marathon Gay Sex for Manly Men” is mildly catchy, while “Husband and Husband” actually suits the way the vocals are performed. The lyrics, however, are essentially just short homosexual erotica tales that try to be funny, but rarely are. This is pushed further by the spoken word approach of the vocals, the lack of rhyming in the lyrics, and how they are executed exactly the same way with little to no variety between songs.

There are a few times it does become mildly serious, such as “Come Out of the Closet (And Cum in My Ass)”, though you wouldn’t assume it by that title. It starts off encouraging for those afraid of what their parents might think if they reveal their interest in the same sex, and for that it’s commendable until it goes on about forcing the lifestyle through (what seems to be written as) anal rape for about a year. There’s also “We Don’t Need Societies Approval”, which is another that starts off having a serious message about being yourself and damn what society thinks, but then it goes off about sex, where gay men will have sex, and how old people look like toads and how you shouldn’t listen to them because of that very fact.

But, when you break it down, apparently all of these overt sexual gratification themes were the goal, and not in any sort of detrimental way. According to the press release, Totally Fucking Gay is an outlet for vocalist Kneepad Nikki “to express [his] admiration for the extreme side of gay culture.” and the urge to “create an old school John Waters movie in sonic form.” He also goes on to admit the band “is a pop grindcore comedy project first and foremost. […] We’re like the NWA of homosexuality. We take all the things that conservatives fear about gay culture – and instead of downplaying them for societal approval; we amplify them beyond caricature,” which makes sense upon hearing this over-the-top experience.

What positive points this release has towards the LGBT community are lost in random bouts of stupid comedic lines like “I am neither angel nor demon. It’s time to gargle with salty semen” followed by a description of oral sex, masturbation, and sticking fingers up your partner’s ass, which still manages to achieve the intention Nikki had when the band recorded this self-titled debut. But, this perception could just be because I’m straight and not of the homophobic audience they clearly intend to offend. Perhaps my critical perception of the lyrical content will be better appreciated by this effort’s target demographic that could actually relate to it more than your ever day straight man. I mean, after all, I’m more of a Cthulhurotica kinda guy, personally, so the score is coming from a largely different perspective of the world and how things work. But, even then, if you’re into this sort of gay grandeur and enjoy some electro grind fusion to tell tales of societal rebellion and boners in various cravases and/or openings, well, then, Totally Fucking Gay might be worth checking out, which you can do on the group’s Bandcamp account (or the player above).